


Orphan Grillby

by AlphysArchives



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Grillby, Childhood Trauma, Family, He be a feisty boy!, Origin Story, Orphan - Freeform, Orphan Grillby, Pre-Core, Pre-Undertale, Rehabilitation, feel good moments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28333086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlphysArchives/pseuds/AlphysArchives
Summary: Prototype to this fic!Grillby, a young elemental monster, was never fond of the idea of a family. Perhaps that is why when the king of all monsters adopts him, he is rather confused. Suddenly, things don't seem quite the same, but not in a bad way. There are so many new and interesting people now, and he's finding each day holds something new!
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Orphan Grillby

**Chapter 1: Foreign**

He looked around him, miserable. Yet again, the kids were screaming. They were always screaming. However, he was not exactly an adult himself; he was not even a teenager, not by far. The young, orange elemental despised being compared to all the other monsters his age. He didn’t cry every three minutes. He didn’t cling to the matrons. He didn’t beg for his mommy and daddy. He didn’t complain about how little shelter their small building brought.

He stayed on his own, away from the others, skulking in his corner of the room. The dodgy building housed far more orphaned monsters than it was designed for, hastily built, drafty, and leaking. There were rather few rooms, and even then, the matrons still had a difficult time keeping eyes on all of them. None of the women ever even seemed to recognize that the elemental was there, and he preferred it that way.

He was so sick of these screaming kids. Surly their parents had told them about the war before they were dusted. Surly they’ve known this was a possibility. Have they never seen someone dust before? They were safe in this cave-thing that they were all in now. All they had to do was wait for the soldiers to come back for them, and they would move on with their lives.

He rolled his eyes, standing up, but something caught his attention. There was a female bird monster who walked in, her face a little nervous, perhaps frantic. Interested, he stayed. She spoke to one of the matrons, then the caretaker looked over the sea of children before shouting out a name. A tiny, red bird jumped into the air, flapping frantic and unpracticed in an attempt to see.

“Momma!” The tiny girl sprinted through the children, barreling into her mother’s chest. They wept happily, soothing and cooing each other. The matron beside them teared up a little, but the other kids started talking to each other. They were all suddenly filled with hope. Some of there parents could still be alive?

Sure enough, over the past several days, parents and relatives took their little ones back. Over a hundred little monsters dwindled down to a few dozen. It turned out that the children were separated from their parents just until they could build shelters of their own. Most of those left were those of who knew that there was no one coming for them, having seen their loved ones dusted themselves.

The little elemental was curious about some of the adults who came by, surveying the children. They were never looking for someone in particular, like the others. A few actually bothered to glance at him before looking away without so much as a word. One day, one of those adults took a child with them. No one saw the child again, but the matrons reassured them that it was okay, that they were happy and with a ‘new family.’ She tried to explain it to him, but he just ignored her.

Over the next two years, more children slowly left the orphanage. A new child or two came by on rare occasions, but they were quickly taken away. One day, a few of the matrons were talking in hushed whispers, glancing at him once in a while. A colorful parrot matron approached where he sat, squatting down to be at his height.

“Hey there, honey. How are you doing?” She smiled to him. ‘Honey.’ That was what they called him. He stared blankly at her. “You know, some of the adults who come by would love to talk to you! I’m sure that they’ll even think about adopting you, if you gave them a chance,” she smiled gently. He cocked his head, furrowing his brow. Why would he want that? “Don’t you want a family again?” Now he made a face of slight disgust. “You can’t live here until you age out, honey. You’ll be so much happier with a family!” Her smile was forced.

The matrons knew better. It was not entirely his fault that no one took an interest to him. Elementals, especially fire elementals, were not the most desired. They were an unsocialized, uneducated, brash species. They had tried many times to try and convince monsters looking to adopt to not assume a child based on their looks and initial demeanor, but it had not worked.

Time went on still. Children came and went, and the young elemental grew another year older still. They were around six or seven now; he couldn’t quite remember. A strange person came by one day, and the elemental thought that he probably should know this person, but he wasn’t sure. This tall, male, fuzzy goat monster looked over to him, smiled, then went back to talking to the matrons. Strange. No one, outside of the matrons, ever smiled at him before. The monster left.

They came back the next day, oddly, and looked right at him. He knew better than to stick around. For the first time, he hid, slinking behind a doorway to observe this towering monster. The goat monster talked to the matrons, looked around, then frowned before talking to the matrons again. Now the matrons looked worried, but the guest seemed to give them a reassuring smile before walking around a little bit. Whenever he looked towards the elemental, he’d duck out of view. The monster was walking near the doorway he hid in, when the large, soft footsteps stopped.

“You’re quite the inquisitive one, aren’t you, little elemental?” The deep, smooth as buttercream voice commented gently. ‘Inquisitive?’ What was that? Given, he didn’t know a lot of words that he should. “You needn’t be fearful; I could never harm one of my people. Come on out now.” ‘Fearful’ he knew, and he was not fearful.

The glow behind the doorway that had given the elemental away surged for a second, a small wave of heat with it. While he was still a young child, fire elementals of any age could be destructive. The king himself was well versed in the way of fire magic though, and was more amused than intimidated. He sat on the floor loudly, making sure the child heard.

The little orange flame peeked his head out, his expression of that of a soldier. ‘Intriguing,’ the king though. The spitfire sprung out from the wall, hurling a fireball directly at the king. With little more than a raise of his hand, the king absolved the attack, dispersing it into sparks. The elemental looked on in shock.

“You needn’t be so wary of me, child,” the king smiled. “I am Asgore. Could I have your name?” Asgore was taken aback by the eye roll he received. “I’ve seen you here several times, and the matrons tell me that you have been here for quite some time now. Aren’t you lonely being here? You don’t seem to play with the other children.” He was met with silence. “And this place is not exactly the homiest. Would you like the come with me to see what a real home should look like?”

The elemental furrowed his brow more than he already had, if that was even possible. Go with someone, much less to be offered to go? Why? What was their plan? What was the point? Sure, he hates it here, and he wants nothing more than to leave here and explore this cave on his own. He’d find a way out. The matrons would whisper about being ‘trapped’ and all, but they just weren’t looking hard enough. There is always a way out. And this monster, this ‘Asgore,’ was his ticket out of this building.

Without a second though, he marched past Asgore, and straight to the front doors. He could hear the monster getting up and following him. He’d tried to sneak out plenty of times, and was a real thorn in the matrons’ sides for it, but he was never so bold as to do it right in front of them. Still, it made no difference. He grabbed the door, and a hand held it shut.

“Sweetheart, you know that you cannot go outside without an adult,” the otter monster soothed, but had a hint of exhaustion to her. He reached up and grabbed at her arm, trying to pull it away. “Come on now, don’t be so fussy.”

Normally, the matrons would pick the child up if they’re upset, but they learned in the first week of him being there that that was a mistake. Multiple matrons had ended up with minor burns. From then on, no one touched him. The otter was more than a little nervous about the fact that he was pulling on her arm, getting more and more aggressive in his attempts. He started clawing at her with his newly found claws. He kept them secret from the matrons as they grew in. His secret weapon. Another matron swooped forward, pushing him back with a broom.

“Get off of her! What is wrong with you?” He always liked this cat matron. She was always forward with him and was not afraid to use force, unlike all the others. Perhaps that was why he smirked at her, grabbing the straw broom, and lighting it aflame. The cat lifted the broom and bopped it on his head before the straw disintegrated in a flurry of sparks and straw. “Stop that, why must you always destroy our brooms?”

“Perhaps if you did not shove them in his face, he wouldn’t,” the booming voice behind the elemental threatened. Everyone halted to look at him, except for the otter who went to tend to her bleeding arm. “He is a child! And here you are pushing him away and hitting him like an animal.” The cat quivered now.

“Y-Your majesty, he attacked one of us, and we cannot risk getting hurt too-” she tried to reason. Something stirred in the elemental, something rooted deep in him. He stood in front of the cat matron, bristling his flames as he bared his claws and the tiny stubs of would-be fangs to this ‘majesty.’ He may dislike the matrons, but no one threatens them. No one hurts these kids. And no one is getting past him. This person was a stranger, and an endangerment to them.

“Calm down now, I am not going to hurt anyo-” the king tried to reason, but was met with a hiss. He crossed his arms, giving the child an exasperated look mixed with sympathy. “What have I done to show you any semblance of a threat?” The child got down on all fours now, making a noise that resembled a mix between growl and a whine. “Alright, enough of that now.” Asgore reached down, being met with baby teeth and claws. They barely even scratched him, so he kept going till he grabbed between the elemental’s shoulders, lifting them up. “You need to calm down, mister.”

All the matrons looked on in wonder and amazement. The little elemental was rendered motionless at the hold, doing nothing more than flexing his claws and gnashing his teeth. The cat matron could not help a few stray giggles. This fearsome monster child that had been keeping them all on edge for three years was rendered helpless by something as simple as grabbing their scruff, just like a kitten. Then again, none of them knew that the child had a scruff, seeing as he had no tail or ears. Aside from his flames, he was the most humanoid monster they’ve ever seen.

“If you would like to go outside, I will gladly take you, but you must behave. Understand?” Oh, he understood alright. He understood ‘go outside,’ and that was all he needed to retract his claws and go doe eyed. “You are quite the brownnoser, you know that?” Asgore smirked before lowering him back down before looking to the matrons expectedly.

They were not sure what to do. The last time they took the elemental outside, he was quickly lost. It took hours to find him again, where he was scrawled away in some small recess in a wall. But if the king said so… They gave him a quick warning, but he waved them off.

“Go on and grab something warm to wear, little one,” Asgore ushered, but the elemental stayed.

“That is all he owns, your majesty,” the cat commented. “It took us months to convince him just to wear what he is now.” The king looked on in thought.

“Well, I suppose he should not get that cold, seeing his flames, but I do worry about his feet.” The child was barefoot, and had never seen anything covering his feet in his life but a blanket and grass. He glanced down at his feet, having recognized the word. One of the matrons left and returned with some shoes, trying to convince him to put them on. He got out of it by pointing to Asgore’s bare feet. If this monster didn’t have to wear shoes, then neither did he.

This was it; he was going outside! This time, he really would get away. He would not be so foolish as to let his flames give him away like last time. He’d show them all how to get out of here!

He forced himself to wait though, acting calm like he would behave for a while. But when they opened the front door… This was not right. What were all these buildings? Why were there so many people? This wasn’t all here when he last left two years ago. He stepped back, his flames dimming.

“Everything alright, sweetheart?” One of the matrons asked. They all expected for him to be rushing out without a second’s notice. But he was… fearful. He suddenly didn’t know where he was. There were too many new things, too many strange buildings, too many people walking around. He stepped back again, and kept going till he turned tail, all but running back to his hiding spot behind the doorway. “I’m sorry, your majesty, we’ve… never seen him like this. Not once.”

He hid in his quiet spot, in the bunk room behind one of the wardrobes. It took everything in him to keep his flames from sparking out of control. He had set more than one wardrobe on fire before, but mostly he didn’t want to be found. He didn’t ever want to be found. Thankfully, all of the other children were elsewhere. Those large, soft footsteps walked into the room, walking around a little bit.

“There are not many rooms here, little one, and I was almost certain that you were not in the washroom,” the king waited for a response, but was not expecting one. “I know that you cannot understand me very well, if at all. I cannot begin to imagine how frustrating that is for you. When I heard that there was an orphaned elemental, I could not help myself. I know that you have seen some things that probably terrified you. Maybe they didn’t… I know that you are strong, that you wish to be independent, but that just isn’t possible. Don’t you want to not fight for food, for scraps? Don’t you want a place to rest your head? To have someone there who understands?”

There was more silence. No, this child could not understand. The only thing that he understood was ‘bathroom,’ ‘elemental,’ and ‘food.’ There was a sigh, and then someone humming. The child blinked a few times, wondering if he was hearing right. There was no way that this monster, this stranger, knew this song. He’d only heard it from the others like him back on the surface. How could this ‘Asgore’ know that?

Slowly, he leaned his head out, glad to see that the monster was facing away from him. Either he did that on purpose, or he truly did not know where he was. The monster kept singing, and it lured him out. He twisted his hands in themselves against himself. He felt something squirming in his chest, and he didn’t like it. Quietly and slowly, he inched closer. His nose tingled, and he tried to rub it away, but it made his eyes foggy. Why were his eyes foggy? Why was his lip shaking?

Hearing a sniff, the king glanced behind him to see the little elemental desperately trying to wipe tears away, confused and not understanding what was going on. He kept on humming as he knelt down and pressed the child into his arms, receiving no fight. He smoothed a paw down his back, gently rocking as the child devolved into strangled cries. The child had never cried before, and was put off by the whole thing. But it felt… no, not good, but not bad either. It took quite a while till the child calmed down, now curled up against the king’s chest. Asgore scooped him up, holding him close as he made his way to the front door.

“You’re going to be okay, I promise,” he whispered so only he could hear him, slowly opening the door.


End file.
